Senate panel told: K-P govt ‘key hurdle’ in checking electricity theft

Minister alleges parliamentarians threatened Wapda employees, warns of action against provincial authorities.

ISLAMABAD:

Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali has alleged that parliamentarians and provincial ministers in urban areas of Peshawar gave patronage to electricity theft in the northern province. He said this during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power, chaired by Senator Zahid Khan on Monday.

The committee discussed the progress of ongoing power projects across the country and urged the government to release funds on high priority to projects which were at least 60 per cent complete.

Abid Sher Ali said that the prime minister had already issued directives in this regard, and added that the prime minister had also taken action against the delay in the completion of hydel power projects in different parts of the country.

Pointing fingers at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the minister said the provincial government was the ‘key hurdle’ in checking electricity theft in Peshawar, where it was an all-time high.

“Parliamentarians threatened Water and Power Development Authority’s (Wapda) staff with dire consequences and even took away transformers at gunpoint,” he maintained.



“The federal government has written to all provincial governments to take action against those who have threatened our staff and are involved in electricity theft,” he said adding that the ministry had warned of lodging FIRs against provincial authorities if there was any damage to property and if Wapda’s employees were threatened.

Committee chairman Senator Zahid Khan said the government had set 2018 as deadline for generating 10,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity and lack of proper coordination among department concerned made that an unlikely target.

Wapda chairman briefed the committee that contractors had stopped work on some major power projects due to delay in the release of funds by the planning commission and finance division, adding that claims of gradual increase in costs was also due to delay in release of funds.

The panel also approved the report of a subcommittee on the performance of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC). The report mentioned that the KESC had failed to provide electricity to Karachi during last eight years as per the agreement. The report also recommended cancellation of agreements with KESC and to recover its losses.

Constituting a judicial commission to review the agreements and the status of their implementation was also recommended in the report which pointed out a loss of Rs110 billion to the national exchequer for providing electricity to KESC at the rates given to other distribution companies.

The panel also sought reinstating all sacked workers of KESC and recovering previous dues from the company. The sub-committee also mentioned that KESC did not get permission from the prime minister for receiving 650MW electricity from the national grid as it was done at the ministerial level in violation of the rules.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2013.